Teachers

Gil Fronsdal is the co-teacher for the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California; he has been teaching since 1990. He has practiced Zen and Vipassana in the U.S. and Asia since 1975. He was a Theravada monk in Burma in 1985, and in 1989 began training with Jack Kornfield to be a Vipassana teacher. Gil teaches at Spirit Rock Meditation Center where he is part of its Teachers Council. Gil was ordained as a Soto Zen priest at the San Francisco Zen Center in 1982, and in 1995 received Dharma Transmission from Mel Weitsman, the abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center. He currently serves on the SF Zen Center Elders’ Council. In 2011 he founded IMC’s Insight Retreat Center. Gil has an undergraduate degree in agriculture from U.C. Davis where he was active in promoting the field of sustainable farming. In 1998 he received a PhD in Religious Studies from Stanford University studying the earliest developments of the bodhisattva ideal. He is the author of The Issue at Hand, essays on mindfulness practice; A Monastery Within; a book on the five hindrances called Unhindered; and the translator of The Dhammapada, published by Shambhala Publications.You may listen to Gil’s talks on Audio Dharma.

Andrea Fella is the co-teacher at IMC. She has been practicing Insight Meditation since 1996, and, under Gil Fronsdal’s guidance, began teaching meditation classes in 2003. She is particularly drawn to intensive retreat practice, and has done a number of long retreats, both in the United States and in Burma. During one long practice period in Burma, she ordained as a nun with Sayadaw U Janaka. Andrea is especially drawn to the wisdom teachings of the Buddha. Her teachings emphasize clarity and practicality. Andrea is a member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council, and teaches residential retreats for IMC and other retreat centers around the country.You may listen to Andrea’s talks on Audio Dharma.

Community Dharma Leaders

Terry Lesser – Yoga for MeditationTerry teaches Yoga for Meditation. She has been teaching classes and retreats at the Insight Meditation Center since 1995. She began practicing yoga in 1984, and has been a student of Vipassana meditation since 1992. Trained in Iyengar style yoga, she also teaches at the California Yoga Center in Palo Alto. Her teaching is gentle, supportive, and sensitive to individual abilities.

Ines Freedman – Online Meditation CourseInes first became interested in meditation through her yoga practice in 1970. She has been practicing Buddhist meditation since 1985, with Gil Fronsdal being her primary teacher. She is a member of the IMC Chaplaincy Council and is past Managing Director of IMC. She directs and teaches IMC’s Online Meditation Courses. She has experience with long meditation retreats including extended self-retreats, and has a special interest in working with meditation practices for those with chronic pain. She currently serves as Managing Director for the Insight Retreat Center.She is a retired chiropractor.You may listen to Ines’s talks on Audio Dharma.

Berget Jelane – San Jose SanghaBerget has been a student of the Dharma since 1986. She is a graduate of the SRMC Community Dharma Leaders Program and the Sati Center Chaplaincy Training. Recently, she was ordained by Gil as a lay Buddhist minister. As a psychotherapist, she uses mindfulness and other Buddhist principles in her work with people.You may listen to Berget’s talks on Audio Dharma.